The present invention relates to a system for tracking objects being loaded into a receptacle.
A demand exists in various industries for convenient and effective means for tracking objects. For example, the livestock industry requires an effective system for tracking animals, such as cattle, being loaded into and then transported on animal trailers or railway cars. Similar systems are required by shipping and airline industries for tracking parcels and luggage.
Various systems for tracking objects are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,892 discloses a system for remotely tracking the location and parameters of moving objects, such as animals, luggage, as well as humans. US Published Application No. US 2003/0062001 A1 discloses a system for controlling and authenticating the quality and origin of animals and meat products which tracks information about the animals' and meat products' location throughout the production cycle. U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,638 describes an animal transportation and tracking system that allows for the maintenance of automatic records of animals that leave a truck.
Of special interest to the design of a system for tracking objects is the step of loading the objects into a receptacle, such as a truck or a bus, and the step of unloading the objects. Various systems for performing these tasks are known in the art, many of which use radio frequency identification (“RFID”) technology to identify and track the objects. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,892 discloses a system for tracking school children getting on and off a school bus, where each child is equipped with an RFID tag which is scanned with a radio frequency (“RF”) receiver located at the entrance of the bus.
Furthermore, US Published Patent Application No. US2003/0062001 A1 discloses a monitoring system for livestock, which includes a system for tracking animals and animal products loaded onto a transport truck, where RFID tags attached to the animals or products are scanned by an antenna system attached to the gate of a truck.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,638 discloses a transceiver located at truck exit or entry points which reads transponders located on animals entering and existing the truck. The communication technology used in U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,638 is said to be known in the livestock industry, such as EZ-ID products manufactured by EZID, LLC.
Known systems, however, do not provide the ability to automatically identify and track each object being loaded into or unloaded from a receptacle using RF technology, where the receptacle comprises large amounts of metal. Examples of such receptacles are animal transport trailers, buses and railroad cars. Mounting an RF receiver or antenna around an opening to such a receptacle presents difficulties, in that the metal structure interferes with the operation of the RF antenna.